This was our first river cruise and we could not have been happier. The ship "astrild" was on its maiden cruise but things went so smoothly you would have thought the crew had worked together for a long time. The food was excellent, abundant, and varied. I normally do not eat much outside of the meat and potatoes group, but I tried most everything because it looked so good and it was. The cabin was spotless and got cleaned several times a day. The design of the rooms made excellent use of the space and the super large windows were great. I especially want to mention our program director Bojan who was great. He was organized and made sure we had a variety of things to do. His evening talks were always entertaining. The captain is truly gifted in how he can get the ship in the very tight locks in some areas where it looks like no more than an inch or two of room on each side. We had an unexpected fireworks show on VE Day and the captain moved the ship out into the river away from the fireworks and gave us the best seats in the house. Great job thinking on his feet.

On the tours they had well informed guides which really helped get a good flavor for where we were. I especially liked Berlin and Dresden. Prague was beautiful but too crowded for me. Our guide in Prague was especially good however because he brought so much local knowledge.